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Simply being a guest on David Letterman’s show has been a highlight of my career. I never dreamed that I would follow in his footsteps, though everyone in late night follows Dave’s lead. I’m thrilled and grateful that CBS chose me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go grind a gap in my front teeth.

[UPDATE] Colbert will be leaving his right-wing persona behind along with his Comedy Central show. As "Stephen Colbert," the comedian has made endless fun of the right while pretending to be an idiotic member of that group. It's a tricky line to walk, but Colbert has done it seemingly effortlessly, staying in character when interviewing his nightly guests.

It's a very different format from the typical late-night show, which is focused around a few bits, some high-profile guests and maybe a musical act. While Jimmy Fallon's success at The Tonight Show is turning late night into a breeding ground for viral video hits, he still stays very close to the accepted format.

And The Colbert Report has been at once extremely silly and extremely cerebral. Colbert is not above jumping into a tub of balls with Charlie Rose to make fun of morning news' new social media rooms, but at the same time he delights in interviewing serious people like Emily Bazelon and historian Simon Schama. Most late-night shows tend to go from silly bit to fawning celebrity interviews.

So will fans of "Colbert" flock to Colbert? There will at least be an initial curiosity factor. But the comedian will have to prove that he can be as amusing playing himself as he was playing the right-wing loony many have grown to love.

The move will likely come with a bump up in pay. Although Colbert hasn't made our Celebrity 100 list, we've been tracking Colbert's income for the past few years. We estimate that he hasn't earned over $10 million in any given year. Letterman, on the other hand, made an estimated $42 million between June 2012 and June 2013. Colbert likely won't be paid that much to start, but the high-profile gig should come with some serious dollars attached.

Colbert bring a serious social media following to late night, much as Jimmy Fallon did when he took over The Tonight Show. Letterman's official show Twitter account has 286,000 followers. Colbert's Twitter account has 6.2 million followers.

The Twitter account for the Colbert Report had even more, but he recently shut it down after a blowup over this tweet: "I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever." It was a reference to a typically complicated Colbert bit in which he made fun of Redskins owner Daniel Snyder for his response to people who find the Redskins name offensive. But taken out of context, it seemed highly offensive. Colbert responded with a funny and nuanced show that highlighted the best of what Colbert has been allowed to do on his show.

It remains to be seen if CBS will allow Colbert to push the edge in the same way on late-night broadcast TV. As a fan, I certainly hope so. I also hope that Stephen Colbert is at least half as funny as "Stephen Colbert."

I live in Los Angeles and I'm lucky enough to write about the thing I love most: movies. I'm a graduate of Vassar College and Northwestern University and for 15 years I…

I live in Los Angeles and I'm lucky enough to write about the thing I love most: movies. I'm a graduate of Vassar College and Northwestern University and for 15 years I worked at Forbes mostly covering the entertainment industry. Although I've moved into the world of corporate journalism, I still contribute blog posts here.